Ian George McCurdy Wingfield GBS served as Solicitor General of Hong Kong from 2007 to 2010. [1]
Wingfield was born in London and graduated from the University of East Anglia in 1970.
Wingfield was called to the English Bar at Inner Temple in 1974 and to the Hong Kong Bar in 1994. [2]
He joined the Hong Kong Government as Government Counsel in January 1982. He was promoted to Senior Government Counsel in October 1982, to Deputy Principal Government Counsel in March 1985, and to Principal Government Counsel in March 1988. He was further promoted to Law Officer in November 1991 and since then held the positions of Law Officer (Civil Law), Law Officer (International Law). He was appointed Solicitor General of Hong Kong in 2007.
In 2010, he left the Department of Justice and resumed practice as a barrister at the private bar in Hong Kong. [3]
Wingfield was awarded the Gold Bauhinia Star in 1999 for his public service in the Department of Justice.
Wingfield is married to Clare-Marie Beeson, a former Judge of the Court of First Instance of the High Court of Hong Kong. [4]
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enforcement, prosecutions or even responsibility for legal affairs generally. In practice, the extent to which the attorney general personally provides legal advice to the government varies between jurisdictions, and even between individual office-holders within the same jurisdiction, often depending on the level and nature of the office-holder's prior legal experience.
A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and enabled to practise there as such. For example, in England and Wales a solicitor is admitted to practise under the provisions of the Solicitors Act 1974. With some exceptions, practising solicitors must possess a practising certificate. There are many more solicitors than barristers in England; they undertake the general aspects of giving legal advice and conducting legal proceedings.
In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer who is typically a senior trial lawyer. Technically appointed by the monarch of the country to be one of 'His [Her] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law', the position originated in England and Wales. Some other Commonwealth countries have retained the designation, while others have either abolished the position, or renamed it so as to remove monarchical connotations, for example, 'Senior counsel' or 'Senior Advocate'.
The title of Senior Counsel or State Counsel is given to a senior lawyer in some countries that were formerly part of the British Empire. "Senior Counsel" is used in current or former Commonwealth countries or jurisdictions that have chosen to change the title "King's Counsel" to a name without monarchical connotations, usually related to the British monarch that is no longer head of state, such that reference to the King is no longer appropriate. Examples of jurisdictions which have made the change because of the latter reason include Mauritius, Zambia, India, Hong Kong, Ireland, South Africa, Kenya, Malawi, Singapore, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago. Jurisdictions which have retained the monarch as head of state, but have nonetheless opted for the new title include some states and territories of Australia, as well as Belize.
Lawrence Antony Collins, Baron Collins of Mapesbury is a British judge and former Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. He was also appointed to the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong on 11 April 2011 as a non-permanent judge from other common law jurisdictions. He was formerly a partner in the British law firm Herbert Smith. He is now a full time international arbitrator, Chair of Laws at UCL Faculty of Laws, and continues to sit as a member of the HKFCA.
The law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has its foundation in the English common law system, inherited from being a former British colony and dependent territory. There are several sources of law, the primary ones being statutes enacted by the Legislative Council of Hong Kong and case law made by decisions of the courts of Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong Bar Association (HKBA) is the professional regulatory body for barristers in Hong Kong. The Law Society of Hong Kong is the equivalent association for solicitors in Hong Kong.
The Department of Justice (DoJ), is the department responsible for the laws of Hong Kong headed by the Secretary for Justice. Before 1997, the names of the department and the position was the Legal Department (律政署) and Attorney General (律政司) respectively. The Department of Justice's main value is the rule of law. This law is the law that has brought Hong Kong the success of being known as the world's international financial centre. Their leading principle consists of the quote “One country, Two Systems”. The Department of Justice is very important in the legal system in many ways. One being that they give legal advice to other departments in the government system. “drafts government bills, makes prosecution decisions, and promotes the rule of law”. Its main goal is to ensure that Hong Kong's status as the main centre for legal services is enhanced and maintained.
Solicitor advocate is a hybrid status which allows a solicitor in the United Kingdom and Hong Kong to represent clients in higher courts in proceedings that were traditionally reserved for barristers. The status does not exist in most other common law jurisdictions where, for the most part, all solicitors have rights of audience in higher courts.
Brian J. Preston FRSN SC is the Chief Judge of the Land and Environment Court of New South Wales. He was appointed on 14 November 2005.
Robert John Reed, Baron Reed of Allermuir, is a British judge who has been President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom since January 2020. He was the principal judge in the Commercial Court in Scotland before being promoted to the Inner House of the Court of Session in 2008. He is an authority on human rights law in Scotland and elsewhere; he served as one of the UK's ad hoc judges at the European Court of Human Rights. He was also a Non-Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong.
Ian Grenville Cross is a British barrister who was appointed Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) of Hong Kong on 15 October 1997, and held this post for over 12 years, until 21 October 2009. He was the first DPP to be appointed after the transfer of the sovereignty of Hong Kong on 1 July 1997, and the appointment signalled that suitably qualified expatriates who were committed to Hong Kong still had a role to play in government in the post-colonial era. A career prosecutor, Cross was the seventh holder of the post since its creation in 1979, and the longest serving. On 26 June 2011, he was elected the Vice-Chairman (Senate) of the International Association of Prosecutors, of which he is a Senator-for-Life.
Neil Trevor Kaplan, CBE, SBS, KC, JP is an international arbitrator, licensed to practise law in Hong Kong, Australia and New York. He is currently an international arbitrator at Arbitration Chambers Hong Kong, and has been described as the "Father of Hong Kong Arbitration". Chambers and Partners ranks Kaplan as one of the Most In Demand Arbitrators in Global Market.
Geoffrey Ma Tao-li is a retired Hong Kong judge who served as the 2nd Chief Justice of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal—the court of last resort in Hong Kong. Between 2001 and 2010, he held various positions in the High Court of Hong Kong, including Chief Judge, Justice of Appeal, and Judge of the Court of First Instance. Before his judicial career, he was a barrister-at-law in private practice at Temple Chambers, and was qualified to practice in England and Wales, Hong Kong, Australia and Singapore.
Gerald Paul Nazareth CBE, GBS was a Hong Kong senior judge, who served in Hong Kong, Brunei and Bermuda.
Frank Stock, GBS is a Non-Permanent Judge of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal. He was until 2014 a Vice President of the Hong Kong Court of Appeal.
Justice Priyasath Dep PC is a Sri Lankan judge and lawyer. He was the 45th Chief Justice of Sri Lanka and a former Solicitor General of Sri Lanka.
Clare-Marie Beeson, SBS is a New Zealand-born lawyer who served as a judge in the Hong Kong Judiciary for over 29 years.
The Director of Public Prosecutions of Hong Kong (DPP) is a law officer and head of the Prosecutions Division of the Department of Justice; the director is responsible for directing the conduct of trials and appeals on behalf of Hong Kong, providing legal advice to law enforcement agencies, exercising the discretion of whether to institute criminal proceedings, and providing advice to others in government on proposed changes to the criminal law.